Share

iOS 6: 7 Key Trouble Spots Apple Needs to Address

The current version of Maps, powered by Google, could be replaced in iOS 6. Photo: Ariel Zambelich/Wired

When Apple announced iOS 5 last June, we saw new features and major improvements ranging from iCloud and iTunes Match to custom vibration alerts, private web surfing and over-the-air software updates.

Now WWDC 2012 is just around the corner. When Apple kicks off its keynote to developers and press next Monday, we'll likely get our very first glimpse at iOS 6. We've already heard inklings and seen signs of what Apple could be introducing. But what do users want to see? Well, that's a whole other story.

The Gadget Lab staff pooled its collective wisdom to build a case for specific new features and fixes. The seven areas below may or may not ever make their way into iOS, but they desperately need inclusion in Apple's next mobile OS version.

Siri 2.0
——–

We loved Siri before we ever met her, but now the iPhone 4S' signature digital assistant has grown a bit, well, tedious. It's high time for a Siri reboot, and Apple CEO Tim Cook has already hinted that there's much in store.

We want to use Siri to post Tweets and Facebook status updates. We want Apple to open up the platform so that Siri can interact with third-party apps. For example, she needs to be able to execute more advanced tasks like scheduling dinner reservations through OpenTable, or doctors appointments via ZocDoc. We also hope she'll just become a better, sharper, more effective, more intuitively capable assistant to work with.

Oh, and Apple needs to advance Siri from beta to final status. We can already hear the round of applause from the WWDC faithful.

A Deeper Library of Gestures
—————————-

OS X has a rich library of multitouch trackpad gestures, so it's only natural for iOS to add a few extra gestures to make navigation on tablets and smartphones even easier.

iOS 5 added four and five-finger gestures allowing you to pinch to spawn the home screen, multitask between apps, or pull up the multitasking bar. We think it would be helpful to add something like a two-finger tap or swipe to pull up the multitasking bar on the iPhone, or utilize Windows 8-style inward swiping from a side edge of the screen to pull up your settings or sharing options.

In a related vein, Apple could make multitasking button-less on the iPhone by using "leftover space" beyond the spotlight search screen. For example, instead of left-to-right flicks ending with this search screen, you could scroll through recent open app instances beyond this screen.

Dynamic, Informative Lock Screen and App Icons
———————————————-

Right now, the lock screen is simply an image of your choosing, with iPod music controls if you double-tap the home button while listening to your favorite tunes. If you've got new notifications, you can swipe to be taken directly to them upon unlocking the phone. But that's about it.

We at Gadget Lab often find ourselves with jam-packed schedules, so we'd love to see the lock screen provide more utility. While attending events like CES, some of us will take screen grabs of our calendars, and set them as our wallpapers each day. This is a feature that could easily (and dynamically) be included as an option in the OS. It's a no-brainer for the Calendar and Reminders apps if we're only staying within the Apple realm, but this functionality should also be integrated with third-party calendar and to-do-list apps as well.

We'd also like to see dynamic app icons. Not Android-style widgets, per se, just the current app icons that provide greater detail and information when you open up your home screen. For instance, the Weather icon should show the actual current temperature and indicate whether it's sunny, cloudy or rainy outside. The calendar app could change appearance depending on whether an event is imminent in the day's schedule.

These dynamic icons could be limited to Apple's built-in app offerings to keep your home screen from turning into a zoo of tiny, constantly updating icons. There's no reason why the home screen can't provide real-time updates while still maintaining Apple's subtle, tasteful design brief.

Facebook Integration
——————–

iOS's Twitter integration is great, but sometimes you want to easily and quickly share content to your Facebook wall rather than to your Twitter followers. If this feature doesn't arrive in the next version of iOS, we'd be quite surprised, as a number of different indicators point to Facebook integration coming soon.

Apple App Makeovers (And Removability)
————————————–

Most of Apple's built-in iOS apps look good – but a few of them, like the Western-themed Find My Friends, verge on dreadful. Even Jonny Ive isn't a fan of the kitschy, stitching-heavy skeuomorphism of some Apple apps. These apps are in dire need of a face-lift.

We'd love to just see stock apps like Calendar, Mail, Notes, iTunes, and the App Store get a refresh. And, indeed, it would appear that our wish may be granted, if reports from sources at 9to5Mac come to fruition.

In addition to a general redesign, we also want the ability to delete stock apps from the home screen. If they're available in the App Store, they're a hop, skip and a jump away from being re-downloaded if we end up missing them later on. But, really, we're tired of the Stocks app icon gathering dust on our iPhones.

Improvements to Audio-File Integration
————————————–

It would be great to be able to share audio files through more than just email or messages. We want to be able to sync them to iCloud for easy cross-device sharing.

As frequent users of the built-in Voice Memo utility for recording interviews, we think it would also be handy to add markers in audio recordings so that we can jump straight from one key position to another in long recordings. This could be implemented by just tapping the mic icon onscreen during recording (or hitting the volume-up button on the side of the device for when the screen goes dark).

Email Attachments
—————–

Currently, if you want to email a photo to someone, you've got to go to your Photo Library and select the photo, then send it from there. You can't just add a photo to a message in Mail (you can, however, do this in some third-party email clients like Sparrow).

We want to be able to attach photos and files straight from the Mail app.

We have about a hundred other ideas of things to tweak, add, and improve in iOS, but the preceding were some of our most major wants. Other features we'd like to see: enabling AirDrop between Macs and iOS devices, making Game Center more of a destination, and making the Remote app a built-in part of the OS rather than a standalone app.

Think we missed something? Share what you'd like to see in the next version of iOS in the comments below.